Chapter 2: Train Ride
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.
Buzzing me awake with my eyes still half closed I leaned over to see my phone docked on the night table.
Hayes? Illuminating my screen was the picture he took to tag to his contact. Trying my best to sound awake I answered but failed and sounded gruff.
“Hello? Hayes?” I said with a rasp.
“S-sorry did I wake you up? Can you come here for a little?”
Come here? Where? Were my thoughts but only managed to let out a “uh?”
“Oh, sorry, c-can you come to the park by the institute?”
My mind was slowly getting into gear noticing the tremor in the voice on the other end. It was a pitiable voice, he sounded as if he was trying his best to keep himself together.
Hayes was in a park at 4 AM in the freezing cold? Taking a breath and a stretch I sat up.
“Okay, I’ll be there in a little. Wait for me, don’t go anywhere.”
On the other end I heard him mumble something followed by some rustling. I was worried he was moving until I came to the conclusion that he had forgotten to hang up before stuffing his phone in a pocket.
What had disturbed the perfect Hayes to be so clumsy?
So I finally get to see whats on the other side of the perfect shell.
In a flurry of excitement I threw on clothes but made sure to put on two sweaters and a jacket (the jacket to take off and give to him) then exited my room and head for the door. It was quiet in the large house but I still rolled my feet not to wake anyone with my steps, I doubt if I did I would be questioned by my aunt or uncle. Calculating the distance as I made my way to the door I guessed it would be a 13 minute drive.
“Where are you going?”
A jolt ran through me as I turned to look behind. Staring down from the landing that looked over the living room connecting to the front entrance was Alice.
“Was I too loud?” I said in a hushed voice strong enough to reach her but got no response. Seeing she wasn’t responding I turned back and made way leaving with an apology.
“My bad for waking you up, but I have to go somewhere.”
“Exactly, where are you going? Do you see what time it is? Why are so inconsiderate? Show some gratitude for taking you in when you have no one, you can’t just come and go as you please. We’re not your free hotel.” She said in a sterner tone as I was already almost to the door.
Ah, she was so cute trying to show disdain. The way her arms where folded across her chest as she tried her best not to shiver (she has always been weak to cold) in her nightwear — a thin oversized chiffon shirt — told me a different story. She was worried.
I bet the temperature in her room is set to summer.
“Sorry,” I said knowing that the non-answer would drive her mad as I grabbed one of the keys from the overpriced hand woven bowl on the entryway table.
“Henry!” She huffed as I heard her rush down the floating steps.
Knowing she was coming after me as her cute feet pattered down the dark stained wood I felt elated, wanting to catch a glimpse of her face as she chased me I turned my head to look over my shoulder only to be with met with… nothing.
The moment I turned my head the world had disappeared leaving me with only a blue sky above me and below me.
“Alice?” A dread seeped in. Incongruities that I had missed suddenly became obvious and my, usually great, memory began to fail.
Where did she go? She was just there.
“Alice! Alice!” I ran to the direction I thought was behind. With no point of reference it was a guess.
Where is she? She was just here! My mind became cloudy as I wondered where I had been heading just a moment ago.
Twisting to my left and right, I hoped if I turned fast enough everything would return, it would be as if the world had gone away for just a minute. My heart raced as I ran aimlessly in the vast empty planes made of hues of blue.
Running without stopping every foot that I placed after the other felt slower than the last. I felt exasperated but not exhausted leaving me wondering if I was moving at all considering nothing in my view changed. I felt trapped between two horizons.
I rubbed my head feeling pangs of pain that matched my heartbeat. Each throb telling me I was forgetting something important.
“The trip!” My eyes shot open.
My chest heaved up and down as I had prepared myself at the shock of a gruesome scene only to feel bewilderment at the lack of blood on sheared metal or the bright lights and sterile smells of a hospital room. Instead in front was a pair of empty seats that faced me and a small white table.
“We…we….crashed?” My eyes darted from side to side in the unfamiliar place.
Where the hell was I? I looked out the window to see rows of snaking cabins connected together.
I’m on a train?
For a second I questioned my memory before abandoning the thought. I was on a bus. I had been, but now I was inexplicably riding a train that ran through an expansive meadow.
With no explanation I moved onto the next bizarre change and looked down to my clothes. The navy knit sweater and they grey pants of my institute’s uniform was gone replaced with a black military outfit.
A train, a foreign land, and every single face seated around me was completely new.
Alice? Hayes? Noe? Ester? If I was here then, I felt my heart jump, where were they?
My heart sunk.
Maybe I’m the only who died. Maybe this how I’m led to the afterlife. Fuck.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t angry. My life was just about to come together. Alice had plans to confront me on the final days of the trip. She had planned with Amelia, Edward, and a few more to pin me down, tie me up, and drag me into a cabin to leave me there. Then they would come back to record me crying for mercy completely nude, starved, and soiled in an attempt to humiliate me.
However, nothing of that sort was going to really happen. I knew from reading Alice’s plans on her computer that what she really planned was to come back alone and rape me after taking a pill that induced ovulation — “99.97% effective” I remember the label of the box of pills in her room, a break through over the counter conception drug.
What a shame! A fucking shame! I was about to father a child with the person I love most in the world and the person who loves me most in the world. I was about to graduate and move out and finally be able to express my absolute devotion to the love of my life, my cousin, my goddess, MY Alice.
Slowing my thoughts I relented, I guess I’ll become a vengeful ghost if Alice is alive. I’ll viciously haunt anyone around her and when she is despairing alone as she lays in bed I’ll manifest myself before her to stroke her soft hair and whisper what she wishes to hear to put her aching heart at ease. I’ll watch over her as she spends the rest of her life with my ghastly being.
Maybe being dead isn’t so bad after all. It’s romantic. It suits us.
The reality of what was around me sunk in. There was no need to pinch or slap myself. It was an instinctual feeling that everything in front of me was real no matter how bizarre it felt. The mind from the dream a moment ago now looked dim compared to what felt like now.
I took a deep breath.
First, I should try and figure out where I am. Maybe this isn't death. I can’t be sure and this isn’t a frail attempt of denial either. Maybe I just miraculously recovered from a bizarre brain injury and only now is my memory coming together.
As I stayed seated and adjusted into where I was. I turned my head to look out of the window ignoring the 14 inch thick pane of glass and the lack of rivets or bolts connecting it to the train or how blazingly fast we were moving through rings of glass each a set distance apart, I tried my best to see any location that looked familiar.
A moment ago we were in a meadow with grass and flowers that reached the ankles but in the moment I took a breath the scenery turned to overlook a gorgeous valley from the mid point of the mountain I had just seen far in the distance.
Looking down I chose to focus on an unfamiliar fortress in the middle of a valley. Around the fortress, filling the massive gap of a trough, was a sprawling canopy of a dense forestry filled with trees in shapes I’d never seen with leaves in colors I had only seen in flowers. As the train sped downwards I soon was forced to realize it wasn’t a fortress but a city. With a fortifying wall that faced me spanning 300 miles or more. The distance, the speed, and the bias of the impossibility that a wall could be built to encapsulate a major metropolis had tricked me into thinking it was much smaller.
My mind started to become numb stuck between knowing this wasn’t a dream but not knowing any other plausible explanation.
At least there are no fiery pits of hell in the direction we were heading but also no singing cherubs and fluffy clouds of a heaven either...this sight helped me believe that maybe this wasn’t the afterlife after all.
The supersonic train quickly brought me close enough to make out more details of the city, that I mistook for a fortress, as we neared. Two massive towers stood erected at the center both easily surpassing well above a mile and were connected by walkways throughout various floors sharing a domed floating stadium at their center.
On Earth, the US-Taiwan Picometer Foundry built in 2032 was the tallest tower I knew of. Standing at little over half a mile it served with a dual purpose as the monument location of the Third World War. The sheer height of these two instilled the real meaning for the term skyscrapers.
I stared at the two towers in the distance the more the signals in my mind would turn their wheels and like the balanced weights had had reached their breaking point in my mind’s fulcrum something in my mind clicked. Feeling a headache I sunk into the seats that were plusher than the seats on the bus. As I closed my eyes to get my thoughts organized it served to only strengthen the realization I wanted to ignore.
I’ve never seen this place in my life or this train or this landscape. The faint shapes of the moons that were beginning to peak out were different too…
Should I ask other passengers where I am? I nodded to myself still not wanting to accept the answer just yet.
“Excuse me, would you like L#$*43FA?”
My body flinched as I cupped my ears from the unexpected violent attack to them from the gibberish.
A young woman pushing a food cart was equally startled by my harsh reaction so much so that she looked concerned.
“M-my apologies did I wake you?” She said giving a full bow oddly adding her right hand over her left shoulder.
Her voice was shaky filled with nervousness and a tinge of undue subservience more than any attendant, flight or train, should ever have. It was as if she was afraid of me.
“Sorry, I was just startled. Could you repeat what you first asked me?”
“O-of course, I asked if you would you like lunch.”
For a moment I thought I must have misheard her but the more I looked at her it became obvious her lips moved differently compared to what I was hearing.
“I don’t have any money on me, I’ll pass. Thank you.” I stood up and bowed back copying her form, she really did look frightened.
Maybe I was in a different country considering the odd bow?
Once I was standing again I looked over my uniform to feel up the many pockets in hopes I’d find a phone or a wallet but found nothing. When I looked back up I saw she had a flustered face. Everyone in the train compartment seemed to be looking over.
Did my voice crack? Why is everyone looking?
“P-please don’t mind me, the food is free for cadets that go Laurent. Feel free to choose what you like.” She waved with her hands for me to sit and handed me a menu.
She acted like my apology wasn’t necessary but after receiving it she looked a lot less nervous. She looked gentle.
“Is that guy crazy? Bowing to a civilian while being in uniform. I’ve never seen it.” Various voices whispered around me.
Realizing I was standing out and connecting why the attendant was so sheepish I sat back down. I knew it wouldn’t be for the best to stand out in such an unfamiliar… well, everything.
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The more I interacted with wherever I was the more questions appeared in my mind. Whats up with the uniform? Why is the menu the attendant gave in a bizarre language? Why did her mouth move oddly while speaking perfect English?
Seeing the attendant standing there I looked at the menu she had given me. There wasn’t a thing I could understand outside of the pictures.
“Sir? Are you okay?” The pretty attendant gave me a worried face as I tried to study the menu.
“I’ll have this sandwich and that drink.” I handed the menu back to the attendant pointing at one of the few pictures on it. I was purposely vague since I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like a turkey sandwich and a soda.
“Hero Albert’s Special? And will that be all?” She asked, her voice brighter.
“Yes, that’s all thank you.”
I smiled back while noticing that with the word “Albert” her lips, for the first time, kinda matched what I was hearing.
Not knowing what to make of it my attention was taken away by the food. I had half expected some mediocre meal but the beautifully layered meat, cheeses, and vegetables along with the perfectly thick and fluffy slices of bread surpassed my expectations. Paired with the dark bottle filled with fizzy bubbles clinging to the sides I was surprised by the quality.
Seeing I was satisfied she left with a light bow with the same odd arm over her shoulder to look after others and regaining her guarded face. I had no appetite, but I didn’t want to seem panicked… and the food looked good. I’ve always been weak to food and genuine smiles in casual exchanges.
Ah, I should have asked her where this train was going.
I looked, but she was already gone. With the attendant no where to be seen my next option was to just ask one of the passengers here.
Inside the compartment everyone in here was wearing the same uniform expect for a few older looking faces that had a white uniform in the same style. Hoping the commonality in our uniforms instilled some comraderie I walked to a group of four in black like mine.
Maybe it denotes who is going to heaven or hell? Honestly, I didn’t really believe there was an afterlife until now.
“Hi, could I ask you something?” The four sitting with the same uniform stopped mid-conversation to look at me.
There were two girls in the aisle seats facing each other and two guys in the window seats. The black haired girl to my left looked frigid but approachable so I was slightly tilted towards her, the fair haired girl to my right appeared to have a warmer aura but the air around her was off putting. She carried the stench of someone like me.
“Do you need something?” Asked the black haired girl.
Feeling like a ghost had passed through me a wave of cold hit the back of my neck like an icy blade was pressed against it.
Was a glare be powerful enough to affect me physically? I was trying my hardest to stop my teeth from chattering feeling my facial muscles strain. But like my expectations she didn’t blatantly ignore my presence.
Ignoring the utter looks of contempt I steeled myself and tried my best to plaster on the smile I copied from Hayes.
“Sorry to bother but do you know where this train is headed?”
The girl’s mouth slightly opened at the question giving me a look of disbelief as if I were asking the most ridiculous question imaginable to her. Silence filled the cabin. Like my exchange with the attendant I could feel eyes shift onto me.
“This… this guy's crazy… he's, he’s at rank 11342 and casually spoke to those four.”
“Wait… isn’t that Robot?”
I overhead whispers from the seats around me. I’m at 11342 of what? Robot? These four?
“The fuck do we look like you personal helpers?” The bulky guy sitting by the black haired girl barked.
I was a little stunned by the sudden hostility. Aren’t we fellow students? Then again its not like the institute I remembered had much of affection for each other just because of the uniform.
Just as I was regaining myself from being a bit stunned the other girl finally spoke.
“Mei, don’t you remember? He went to our preparatory school.”
So the black haired girl was Mei. Hearing the other girls response Mei tilted her head and shrugged. From the friendlier voice of her friend Mei’s glare disappeared and the freezing temperature dispersed.
The blonde haired girl gave a soft smile as she turned to me. The way her emerald eyes glittered so brightly gave me the creeps. More so paired with the overly pleasant attitude contrasting her hostile friends.
“So, friend what did you need again?” She cooed naturally, but hidden within it was the unnaturalness I knew so well.
Quite honestly I didn’t want to interact with her.
“Huh? Since when do you know Robo-?” The guy next to her was about to speak but stopped when she flashed him a deathly glare that should have gone unnoticed from anyone who didn’t know her.
This green-eyed girl is definitely the most dangerous one, however, my options were limited and if she could provide me answers then I would take them. Pretending to be oblivious, I bit into the warmer persona she exuded and I casually continued.
“I just wanted to know where we are, where the train was heading, and do you know where Laurent Academy is? This uniform is for that academy, right? ”
Her smile cracked a little hearing my question, I could see her interest under the thin surface of kindness instantly disappear. Still, she kept her smile inviting.
I did wonder if maybe they have been suddenly placed here too, maybe everyone on this train was heading to the next life and don’t want to be reminded they died. I could understand that.
“Err..” Her pupils lit up with white squares displaying tiny lines.
“Lucid, correct?” The lines disappeared.
Before I could answer to hearing the wrong name she continued.
“We’re in the east end of the United Northern Scale Alliance, we’re headed to Laurent Academy of Magic and Martial Arts within Laurent City, and these are our uniforms. We were given them to wear for the orientation later today.” She answered in a matter of fact way. The warm tone was there but within her eyes was complete disinterest.
Academy of magic… her hidden apathy told me she didn’t care enough to lie so I returned her a smile and nodded.
“I see, thanks. I was just making sure.”
The United Northern what? Magic? Laurent City? I wanted to smile bitterly finally accepting the conclusion I wanted to avoid.
I was in another world.
“You really do know him Abbey?” Mei’s voice was surprisingly normal as she spoke to her friend.
“No. I just thought maybe he would say something interesting. I had heard there were rumors that he had never uttered a single sound, a mute. I guess they were wrong. I was just a little curious to what he would say.”
As if I had disappeared into air Abbey responded to Mei as she waved for a different train attendant who just come to bring her another cola. Hearing their conversation so strikingly normal compared to the millions of questions I had opened up accepting this truth was so bizarre I felt I was on the verge of collapsing.
Never in my life did I ever think shocking words could make me truly feint, have I become a maiden in a drama? Where is my prince? My princess? The gallant male lead that will whisk me away noticing I needed a moment alone to recollect my wits at my debut ball?
I stood frozen just listening.
“You’ve always curious about the weirdest things. Even when we were small.” The guy next to Abbey shook his head.
“Eh! Really! You’ve known each other that long? Alan do you have pictures you two together I want to see.” Mei’s eyes lit up.
“I’m sorry Lucid. Did you need something else?” Abbey turned seeing me still here.
The creepy pair of emerald eyes perked me up.
“No, that was it. Thanks again.”
They all wanted to forget my presence and I didn’t want to linger around this girl named Abbey any longer so I quietly walked away back to my seat. My mind still as full. Suppressing myself I found the courage, or rather the necessity, to bottle up those questions. It was best for me right now to just focus on the present.
How did she do that again? Or was it that magic she spoke about? I shut my eyes and imagined the two squares, like monitor reflections, that Abbey had.
Oh! Something lit up.
I opened my eyes to see text floating in the area above the small table.
[Hello, we have detected it is your first time powering on let's get you ready!]
[Would you like to use pervasive mode? It enables augmented information all the time. Y/N]
I nodded my head. The “Y” glew brighter then disappeared along with the question.
Just like that?
[Please select level of detail of pervasive information. __%]
I reached out to the slider that appeared in front of me. The familiar towers from outside were rendered on the small table to be used as an example. 100% was giant walls of text while 0% was just the name of the towers. 20% was fine it contained about a four sentence summary.
[Pervasive information set at 20%]
[Please select opacity level of pervasive information. __%]
I tried 100% at first, but it blocked out way too much of my vision. I slowly went down to 10% but thought 40% looked the best.
The slider seemed to have read my mind and raised itself back to 40%.
[Opacity set at 40%]
[Please select the level of freedom for the AI. __%]
Having fun with the slider controlled with my thoughts alone I zoomed it up and down completely taken by how accurate it was. With a small chuckle I turned my attention away only for the menu screen to start going dim as the next question appeared.
[AI freedom set at 100%]
Wait, what?
Before I could even think about returning screens my vision went black.
“Oh shit! What the fuck!” I cursed under my breath at the searing pain at the back of my head.
Did piss off those four enough they struck me in the head with a fucking pipe? I clutched my head tightly, but as my sight returned I looked at my hands and saw no blood.
What was that? Did this thing get installed in my head? I could very clearly feel as if something had changed within the contents of my head. No matter how hard I tried to return to the setup menu nothing appeared, there was no going back it seemed.
[Hello master!]
The voice of the AI appeared in my head. Instead of speaking mechanically and flat, the voice had a natural tone.
Hi…? Can you hear me?
I spoke within my head wondering if it could read my thoughts.
What are you? Did you just take a piece of brain?
[I am your personal MAGI! An artificial intelligence to help guide you to be your best self. And yes! But it is not limited to your brain I have also been installed into your nervous system along with various parts of your body! All so I can assist your to reach your personal pinnacle.]
[It is why I can hear you nice and clear without you needing to physically vocalize. Is there anything you would like me to do? You do have pervasive mode turn on so for most things all you need to do is look at them and focus! Information will automatically appear.]
I turned my head out of the window to test it out using the city in the distance. A text box floating above the city appeared keeping in sync to face me as the train moved.
[Laurent City]
[Population: 5.2 Million]
[Major Export: Biomedical related magic tools, Magic Alloys, Sigil IP, and Mana Infused Ceramic Materials]
[Significant Companies: Hope Research Corporation, Duo Alloys, and Heavy Machinery, Kirkja Pharmaceutical, and Kyunter Equipment]
[Population Demographics: 62.3% UNSA, 20.5% SEOF, 8.2% NAE, 6.1% ETU, 2.9% Others]
[Average Yearly Income: 83,539 ss]
Amazed and wanting to test it further, I focused my eyes and my thoughts on two towers.
[Laurent Academy]
[Student Body: 49,532 (As of N.F. 309)]
[Laurent Academy is a magic and martial arts institute founded in N.F 79 currently ranked 7th within planet Ard and 1st among the United Northern Scale Allegiance based on their overall scores in human combat, hyre combat, and magic engineering. With the addition of its twin building, the student body is expected to double within the next four years. ]
An extra text box popped up.
[Currently, you are enrolled as a cadet Lucid Gracile specializing in Engineering, your current rank is 11342 out of 11342. Rank 0 is cadet Runter Hope. Congratulations on making it, master.]
There was that name again… I shook my head not wanting to think about it further, at least not now.
Expand on Runter, please?
I wondered if it would work.
[Runter Hope]
[Race: Human]
[Stage: Noble Apostle]
[Age: 17]
[Height: 1.92 m]
[Born in Laurent he is the 3rd son of hyol style mage Aubrey Hope and divine edge style swordsman Joseph Hope.]
[He specializes as a magic swordsman of Hope’s Grace. A sword art developed by both his parents. He attended Hope’s Duo Preparatory School for the Gifted.]
[Combat Data: STR: ~6400, AGI: ~5900, MGI: ~5400, Mana Cap.: ~12000 AM (All stats have been estimated from public battles)]
The AI had understood immediately, included in the summary was a picture. Runter had long wavy green hair and wore a gold circlet on his head keeping his hair parted to one side.Princely and grand especially with the circlet was my impression.
If that's rank 0 what's my combat data at rank 11342? I was curious to compare.
[Analyzing master’s private data]
[Lucid Gracile]
[Race: Human]
[Stage: Apostle]
[Age: 16]
[Height: 1.81 m]
[Master was born in Obsense City, raised in an orphanage since birth for children with disabilities due to being mute. At age 5 during a yearly health check your high mana capacity was discovered you were placed in a city-run magic school then recommended to Newfork Preparatory school for the Gifted under scholarship due to high written test scores.]
[No specialization]
[Combat Data: STR 950, AGI:780, MGI: 0(Master has never cast a spell), Mana Cap.: 4420.5 AM (As of 8/31/310)]
[Master lost all admission matches to enter Laurent Academy. The deciding factor for your admission was perfect test scores and larger than average mana capacity combined with being on an engineering focused path. I recommend master to begin the minimal strength, agility, and magic training!]
Such a huge gap between the first rank and last.
I paused for a moment grounding myself. Why am I even acting like I know what the numbers mean and what the difference really is? I should be focused on the fact that magic exists.
How do I conjure a flame? I asked hopeful for an easy answer.
[It is common knowledge that artificial constructs cannot understand the intuitive nature of magic casting.]
I sighed then my thoughts wandered as the initial excitement of the AI wore off. I’ve come to accept that I am in another world. I was saddened that I was not given a moment to imagine world shaking magic coming to me naturally, so now I sat accepting my reality and how I would survive. I couldn’t help but think it was a little cruel that I didn’t have any parents in this world either.
Accepting I was in another world my mind began to reel through my thoughts of the one I had just left, all of it still fresh in my mind.
Were the parents of this world as carefree as the ones from Earth? Living without a single care for anything other than their life’s enjoyment of traveling, documenting.
Alice… I recalled my cousin’s name. I didn’t care for much on Earth but Alice was someone I’m not sure if I could live without and maybe the only reason I’ve kept it together so far was out of a small hope they she’s in this world too…
Like it had always been we only needed each other hatred or love so long as our existences were within an arms reach we could go through anything, do anything.
A smile overtook my lips as I remembered out first time meeting.
We had been raised exactly the same and when our eyes first met we just knew.
I remember her expressionless eyes, her impeccable manners, and her clear and thorough form of speaking. We were husks craving for any form of attention from our parents hoping our manners would bring praise, speaking concisely knowing we had no words to spare with them, and having grown expressionless because we weren’t old enough to fake feelings. Knowing this about each other we became all of that and more for each other.
Alice gave me the love and care of a mother, and I to her a father. Alice gave me the bond of sister, and I to her a brother. And before my parent’s passing our emotions reached their limit surpassing that of family giving into our hearts and bodies we formed a bond as lovers. Only for it to be shattered by my hands until they were supposed to be reforged together permanently by hers on the final days of the trip.
“Welcome to Laurent City. We will be arriving at Laurent Academy Station in 3 minutes. Passengers please check for luggage before your departure. Have a great day!”
There was no point in panicking in my search for Alice. There was no point in becoming a mess in trying to find a way back to Earth. There was no point in worrying about things that, at the moment, seemed so far away from me. What could I do at the moment? Absolutely nothing. I can only take small steps. Tiny steps. Steps so small that at points I’ll feel like I am not moving at all. I have continue to push on even if it feels as if the progress is so minuscule that it isn’t worth the effort because I know at some point I will be able to thoroughly search for her. I’m certain Alice would do, or could be doing at the moment, the exact same for me. We’re incredibly alike, we’re soulmates.
And if in the end she truly is not here after I’ve laid eyes on every inch of this world I’ll just…
For now, the first step was entering the academy I was a cadet of. Maybe there other students were transported like me. Luckily it seemed as if the academy was a boarding school of sorts so I was assuming I wasn’t homeless.
The train came to a stop and the doors opened letting the Sun, or this world’s sun, shine into the compartment. Within me there was a strong urge to just stay put, stay put and hope that in a moment everything would fix itself. I felt there was a million questions and even more million things to do. I wanted to continue to sit as a type of procrastination, a defensive mechanism telling me if I do nothing then I don’t have to deal with the unknowns and just deal with the matters in front of me right now which was breathing and looking around. But just like how I would’ve starved to death waiting for my parents instead of figuring out how to order delivery through a phone I got up from my seat and begun to walk towards the exit with the simplest plan in mind.
I went with the flow of students heading to the academy to attend orientation. It was something to do for the next hour at least, hopefully more, and time slowly piece together what ever scraps I can find.
“Sir! Sir!” I felt a voice directed at me.
“Sir is this your luggage case!” I turned around it was the attendant from earlier. In her hand she rolled a black hard shell case with a black backpack on top of it.
I could see both were tagged with the name Lucid Gracile, it must have been in the luggage storage.
There was no way I would have known.
“Ahem, thank you.”
I stopped myself from bowing, but I gave a friendly smile to attendant then turned around and started to leave again.
“S-sir your food.”
I froze in place and turned around the attendant caught up to me handing me my unopened sandwich, soda, and potato chips leaving me feeling like a child leaving on their way to school.
The attendant looked amused and in her eyes I could feel a trace of gentleness. I wonder if I reminded her of a sibling or even her younger self. I mumbled thanks again placing the food into the backpack and set off. There really was just too much on my mind.